1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an insulating label stock for a container which comprises a thermal insulating layer which is bonded to a face material. The face material may be film, paper or fabric. The face material can be coated with a coating material so that it is printable, thus imparting both insulating properties and print capability to the container.
2. Description of Related Art
Insulated enclosures for containers are known, such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,871,597. This enclosure includes a first, or inner-most fabric layer, a second inner-most insulating layer which includes a polymeric foam, a third inner-most metallized polymer film reflective layer, and an outer-most fabric mesh layer. However, the use of four different layers, although providing good insulation for the container, can be cumbersome, which limits the function of such enclosure for other purposes, such as a label stock.
In the label art, different materials and different layers are generally not used in a label stock. This is due in part to the fact that it has been too costly to laminate the different materials and layers. Moreover, in order to laminate different materials, one of which imparts thermal insulation to the label and has some thickness or loft, the materials must be heated to a temperature which collapses the lofty material.
Also known in the film art is a thin electrical tape which comprises a polyester web-reinforced polyester film, as disclosed in 3M Utilities and Telecommunications OEM. However, this tape, which at its thickest is 0.0075 inch (0.0190 cm.), is not suitable for use as an insulator for a container.
Thus, there exists a need to design an insulator for a container which is inexpensive to manufacture. Such an insulator would be thick enough to provide adequate insulation, but thin enough to be flexible so that it will wrap around the container. Ideally, such insulator would be multi-functional so that it could also serve as a label.